In pictures & quotes: A look back at the Australian Open

Top quotes from the 2019 Australian Open, the first Grand Slam of the year that ended on January 27.

Novak Djokovic after his rout of Rafael Nadal to win a record seventh Australian Open. 

"Even though I always believe I can play this way, visualize myself playing this way. At this level, as I said, under the circumstances, it was truly a perfect match."

Naomi Osaka after winning her first Australian Open title.  

"I felt like I was in a state of shock through the entire trophy presentation."

An honest Rafael Nadal assesses why he was demolished by Novak Djokovic in the final.

"Probably physically I was not able. Five months without competing, having that big challenge in front of me, I needed something else. That something else probably today I don't have it yet... to compete at this super high level."

Simona Halep after American great Serena Williams ousted her in the fourth round to end the Romanian's reign as world number one.

"I felt like I had been hit by a train in the first set, everything was too fast." 

Roger Federer reacts to John McEnroe saying his defeat to Tsitsipas was a changing of the old guard.

"Yeah, sure. He's in front of the mic a lot. He's always going to say stuff. I've heard that story the last 10 years. From that standpoint, nothing new there."

Serena Williams after Czech seventh seed Karolina Pliskova survived four match points then stormed home in the quarter-finals to end the American's latest bid for a record-equalling 24th major.

"I can't say that I choked on those match points. She just played lights out, literally hitting lines. Just went for it, just went crazy on match point."

Tennis player Frances Tiafoe contracted the coronavirus in July. The 22-year-old returned a positive test for the virus and was forced to withdraw from the All-American Team Cup exhibition tournament in Atlanta. "I'm cool. Obviously, some of the other players had it pretty bad. Losing taste, losing smell. Physically when they were coming back they were struggling a lot," said Tiafoe. "Actually my virus was pretty mild, thankfully, me and my brother. My brother had no symptoms at all. I just had diarrhoea and headaches for three days. So I was okay."

 

An exhausted Johanna Konta after the Briton's second-round clash with Spain's Garbine Muguruza ended at 3:12 am after a scheduling logjam meant they didn't get on court until 12:30 am.

"I don't agree with athletes having to physically exert themselves in the wee hours of the morning. I don't think it is healthy — in fact, it is quite dangerous."

 

Firebrand Bernard Tomic has words of advice for Australia Davis Cup captain Lleyton Hewitt.

"Go away. Like, literally. If you've retired, why are you still in tennis? I'm going to say it honestly — no one likes him anymore."

American Danielle Collins after routing world number two Angelique Kerber 6-0, 6-2 on her way to the semi-finals in a dream debut at Melbourne Park.

"I was giving the referee a hard time about the new rule the WTA made about how you can only take one bathroom break. I kind of needed to go to the bathroom, but I hesitated. I was trying to strategically plan out when I was going to urinate."
 

Frances Tiafoe on how he beat cramp against Grigor Dimitrov.

"I was trying to stay alive. I was downing pickle juice, having that like Kool-Aid. Tasted terrible."

Naomi Osaka after the 21-year-old was told one of her opponents, Slovenia's Tamara Zidansek, was awestruck to be playing the Japanese star at Melbourne Park. 

"No way! I feel old. Wow, that's kind of crazy... It's weird. For me, when I play, like, Venus (Williams) or someone, I'm star struck too. It's a bit weird when you tell me there's someone I'm playing that feels that way."

Stefanos Tsitsipas after being thumped by Rafael Nadal in the semi-final.

"He gives you no rhythm. He plays just a different game style than the rest of the players. I've never seen a player have this. He makes you play bad. I don't know, I would call that a talent."